The global energy crisis is exacerbated by the continuous consumption of fossil fuels during the rapid development of modern industries. Moreover, the survival and development of human beings have also been seriously affected by the massive emission of greenhouse gases.
It has been a priority to establish and improve the anthropogenic carbon cycle to achieve the "dual-carbon goal" of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality".
Artificial CO2 photo-conversion producing valuable carbon-based fuels using photo-energy and water under ambient temperature and pressure offers a sustainable strategy to alleviate the problems of global warming and the energy crisis caused by non-renewable fossil fuels. This economical strategy is vividly respected by addressing both needs at once.
The successful implementation of Artificial Photosynthesis depends on the design of photocatalysts. Up to date, numerous inorganic and organic semiconductors have been developed to perform the photocatalytic CO2 reduction (e. g. ZnIn2S4, CeO2, g-C3N4, COFs, etc.). However, the efficiency of CO2 conversion is still unsatisfactory to meet the requirement of practical application due to the following reasons.
Firstly, as the adsorption of reactants on the catalysts is the prerequisite for a chemical reaction, the intrinsic CO2 capture capacity of most photocatalysts is limited.
Secondly, though the development of narrow bandgap semiconductors promotes the adsorption of visible light, this contradicts with the large bandgap demand for simultaneously CO2 and H2O conversion, which requires negative conduction band (thermodynamic requirements for CO2-RR) and positive valence band (water oxidation for proton supplement) alignments. The overall CO2 and H2O conversion to fuels and O2 is the ultimate goal of artificial photosynthesis.
Thirdly, the severe recombination of photoinduced charge carriers and poor interfacial charge transfer hinder the capture of electrons and holes by reactive sites, thereby decreasing the photon utilization efficiency. Based on the concept of “structure engineering in photocatalysts”, multifunctional photocatalysts targeting to the above issues can be designed and a ground-breaking insight for the simultaneous enhancement of photocatalytic reactivity and selectivity may be obtained.
This Research Topic welcomes Research articles, Review articles, Mini Review and Perspectives aiming to provide the recent advances in structure engineering of photocatalysts for photocatalytic CO2 conversion and carbon neutrality, mainly focused on, but not limited to:
• Development of organics and inorganics photocatalysts for photoconversion of CO2
• Exploration of new materials and new concept targeting to the band adjustment
• Charge separation, kinetics, and the dynamics for the efficient photocatalysis
• Photocatalysts derived device and equipment development
• Specific structure design for photocatalysts and the structure-activity relationship on the performances.
Keywords:
Photocatalysis, CO2 conversion, Structure engineering, Charge separation, Device and equipment developments
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The global energy crisis is exacerbated by the continuous consumption of fossil fuels during the rapid development of modern industries. Moreover, the survival and development of human beings have also been seriously affected by the massive emission of greenhouse gases.
It has been a priority to establish and improve the anthropogenic carbon cycle to achieve the "dual-carbon goal" of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality".
Artificial CO2 photo-conversion producing valuable carbon-based fuels using photo-energy and water under ambient temperature and pressure offers a sustainable strategy to alleviate the problems of global warming and the energy crisis caused by non-renewable fossil fuels. This economical strategy is vividly respected by addressing both needs at once.
The successful implementation of Artificial Photosynthesis depends on the design of photocatalysts. Up to date, numerous inorganic and organic semiconductors have been developed to perform the photocatalytic CO2 reduction (e. g. ZnIn2S4, CeO2, g-C3N4, COFs, etc.). However, the efficiency of CO2 conversion is still unsatisfactory to meet the requirement of practical application due to the following reasons.
Firstly, as the adsorption of reactants on the catalysts is the prerequisite for a chemical reaction, the intrinsic CO2 capture capacity of most photocatalysts is limited.
Secondly, though the development of narrow bandgap semiconductors promotes the adsorption of visible light, this contradicts with the large bandgap demand for simultaneously CO2 and H2O conversion, which requires negative conduction band (thermodynamic requirements for CO2-RR) and positive valence band (water oxidation for proton supplement) alignments. The overall CO2 and H2O conversion to fuels and O2 is the ultimate goal of artificial photosynthesis.
Thirdly, the severe recombination of photoinduced charge carriers and poor interfacial charge transfer hinder the capture of electrons and holes by reactive sites, thereby decreasing the photon utilization efficiency. Based on the concept of “structure engineering in photocatalysts”, multifunctional photocatalysts targeting to the above issues can be designed and a ground-breaking insight for the simultaneous enhancement of photocatalytic reactivity and selectivity may be obtained.
This Research Topic welcomes Research articles, Review articles, Mini Review and Perspectives aiming to provide the recent advances in structure engineering of photocatalysts for photocatalytic CO2 conversion and carbon neutrality, mainly focused on, but not limited to:
• Development of organics and inorganics photocatalysts for photoconversion of CO2
• Exploration of new materials and new concept targeting to the band adjustment
• Charge separation, kinetics, and the dynamics for the efficient photocatalysis
• Photocatalysts derived device and equipment development
• Specific structure design for photocatalysts and the structure-activity relationship on the performances.
Keywords:
Photocatalysis, CO2 conversion, Structure engineering, Charge separation, Device and equipment developments
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.